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[263]
When therefore those that had intended thus to destroy Daniel by
treachery were themselves destroyed, king Darius sent [letters] over all
the country, and praised that God whom Daniel worshipped, and said that
he was the only true God, and had all power. He had also Daniel in very
great esteem, and made him the principal of his friends. Now when Daniel
was become so illustrious and famous, on account of the opinion men had
that he was beloved of God, he built a tower at Ecbatana, in Media: it
was a most elegant building, and wonderfully made, and it is still remaining,
and preserved to this day; and to such as see it, it appears to have been
lately built, and to have been no older than that very day when any one
looks upon it, it is so fresh 1
flourishing, and beautiful, and no way grown old in so long time; for buildings
suffer the same as men do, they grow old as well as they, and by numbers
of years their strength is dissolved, and their beauty withered. Now they
bury the kings of Media, of Persia, and Parthia in this tower to this day,
and he who was entrusted with the care of it was a Jewish priest; which
thing is also observed to this day. But it is fit to give an account of
what this man did, which is most admirable to hear, for he was so happy
as to have strange revelations made to him, and those as to one of the
greatest of the prophets, insomuch, that while he was alive he had the
esteem and applause both of the kings and of the multitude; and now he
is dead, he retains a remembrance that will never fail, for the several
books that he wrote and left behind him are still read by us till this
time; and from them we believe that Daniel conversed with God; for he did
not only prophesy of future events, as did the other prophets, but he also
determined the time of their accomplishment. And while prophets used to
foretell misfortunes, and on that account were disagreeable both to the
kings and to the multitude, Daniel was to them a prophet of good things,
and this to such a degree, that by the agreeable nature of his predictions,
he procured the goodwill of all men; and by the accomplishment of them,
he procured the belief of their truth, and the opinion of [a sort of] divinity
for himself, among the multitude. He also wrote and left behind him what
made manifest the accuracy and undeniable veracity of his predictions;
for he saith, that when he was in Susa, the metropolis of Persia, and went
out into the field with his companions, there was, on the sudden, a motion
and concussion of the earth, and that he was left alone by himself, his
friends fleeing away from him, and that he was disturbed, and fell on his
face, and on his two hands, and that a certain person touched him, and,
at the same time, bid him rise, and see what would befall his countrymen
after many generations. He also related, that when he stood up, he was
shown a great rain, with many horns growing out of his head, and that the
last was higher than the rest: that after this he looked to the west, and
saw a he-goat carried through the air from that quarter; that he rushed
upon the ram with violence, and smote him twice with his horns, and overthrew
him to the ground, and trampled upon him: that afterward he saw a very
great horn growing out of the head of the he-goat, and that when it was
broken off, four horns grew up that were exposed to each of the four winds,
and he wrote that out of them arose another lesser horn, which, as he said,
waxed great; and that God showed to him that it should fight against his
nation, and take their city by force, and bring the temple worship to confusion,
and forbid the sacrifices to be offered for one thousand two hundred and
ninety-six days. Daniel wrote that he saw these visions in the Plain of
Susa; and he hath informed us that God interpreted the appearance of this
vision after the following manner: He said that the ram signified the kingdoms
of the Medes and Persians, and the horns those kings that were to reign
in them; and that the last horn signified the last king, and that he should
exceed all the kings in riches and glory: that the he-goat signified that
one should come and reign from the Greeks, who should twice fight with
the Persian, and overcome him in battle, and should receive his entire
dominion: that by the great horn which sprang out of the forehead of the
he-goat was meant the first king; and that the springing up of four horns
upon its falling off, and the conversion of every one of them to the four
quarters of the earth, signified the successors that should arise after
the death of the first king, and the partition of the kingdom among them,
and that they should be neither his children, nor of his kindred, that
should reign over the habitable earth for many years; and that from among
them there should arise a certain king that should overcome our nation
and their laws, and should take away their political government, and should
spoil the temple, and forbid the sacrifices to be offered for three years'
time. And indeed it so came to pass, that our nation suffered these things
under Antiochus Epiphanes, according to Daniel's vision, and what he wrote
many years before they came to pass. In the very same manner Daniel also
wrote concerning the Roman government, and that our country should be made
desolate by them. All these things did this man leave in writing, as God
had showed them to him, insomuch that such as read his prophecies, and
see how they have been fulfilled, would wonder at the honor wherewith God
honored Daniel; and may thence discover how the Epicureans are in an error,
who cast Providence out of human life, and do not believe that God takes
care of the affairs of the world, nor that the universe is governed and
continued in being by that blessed and immortal nature, but say that the
world is carried along of its own accord, without a ruler and a curator;
which, were it destitute of a guide to conduct it, as they imagine, it
would be like ships without pilots, which we see drowned by the winds,
or like chariots without drivers, which are overturned; so would the world
be dashed to pieces by its being carried without a Providence, and so perish,
and come to nought. So that, by the forementioned predictions of Daniel,
those men seem to me very much to err from the truth, who determine that
God exercises no providence over human affairs; for if that were the case,
that the world went on by mechanical necessity, we should not see that
all things would come to pass according to his prophecy. Now as to myself,
I have so described these matters as I have found them and read them; but
if any one is inclined to another opinion about them, let him enjoy his
different sentiments without any blame from me.

1 What Josephus here says, that the stones of the sepulchers of the kings
of Persia at this tower, or those perhaps of the same sort that are now
commonly called the ruins of Persepolis, continued so entire and unaltered
in his days, as if they were lately put there, "I (says Reland) here
can show to be true, as to those stones of the Persian mansoleum, which
Com. Brunius brake off and gave me." He ascribed this to the hardness
of the stones, which scarcely yields to iron tools, and proves frequently
too hard for cutting by the chisel, but oftentimes breaks it to pieces.

Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.

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